<>(Zack)<>

I've come across a small Goblin camp. There are five Goblins sitting around a fire, four at Level 4, and one at Level 5. The four are Goblin Knights, while the fifth is a Frost Goblin. They're preparing what looks like a deer and some stew, though I'm not sure I want to know what's in the stew.

For half an hour, I watch the group chatter in their language, cook, and eat, sketching them in my tome, adding some information to what I already have. For the Frost Goblin's information, I skim through blank pages until my fingers tell me to stop. I used to do it at home, for school journals, when I was noting things down. It always worked, letting me know exactly how far I'll need to go for sections.

I sketch the Frost Goblin the best I can. It isn't too different from the other. I note down the information I have on it from my previous fight and from watching it, then add in the entry for the Goblin Knights. The only one I'd seen before was the one who gave me the necklace I now wear.

At least I now know why I haven't seen them around before. These four seem to give the Frost Goblin a sort of reverence, and I note this in a separate section.

After my sketches of a Goblin Knight that's a mix of these four, I send my supplies back into my Inventory. The four Goblin Knights have similar features. They're all around the same height, with similarly-muscled bodies. They have varying shades of green skin, and varying types of weapons, one of them wearing a rusty breastplate.

That won't matter much to me, with my current Strength and my sword made of Spook Ore.

I drop out of the tree, landing softly on the ground behind the Goblins' camp, then draw my sword, flicking my knife out as I do. It slams into the Frost Goblin's back, killing it immediately. I've severed the head of the Goblin Knight with the armor before the Goblins register my presence, and it takes me almost no time to kill them off.

No matter how strong a regular type of Goblin is, it can't take me on at my current strength. They'd have to be a Chieftain, Elite, or Bounty Beast to handle me. That, or a Special Goblin that isn't caught by surprise.

The Goblins dead, I loot their bodies and camp, then get searching again, both to add to my tome, and to gain more Experience. By the time the sun sets and I return home, I've gained a full Level and several more entries into my tome. I know my additions will slow down as information becomes redundant, but for now, I am satisfied.

Bryce suggested learning about the different types of Goblins to help fight them better, and that's what I'm going to do. Only instead of simply remembering things, I'm going to compile a full tome on the different types of Goblins.

According to Nik, the information they have is just the basic stuff necessary to kill them.

As usual, Gold needs helping cleaning certain parts of himself – mostly, his back, tail, and hair – so after I help him with that and relax in the bath a bit, I lie down in front of the fire, Gold curling up on his blanket.

When morning comes, Gold cooks us breakfast, seeming as happy as he has been the last few days, even humming to himself. I wish him luck as he washes the dishes, then I leave, making my way back to the forest, killing a few Slimes on my way there.

Today, I manage to collect data about Goblin Archers and a little about Goblin Shaman. Including that they are the ones that cast that annoying cloud of poison. Thankfully, my Spook Ore armor draws even that to it.

When the day ends, I've gained another full Level, and have bought a comb for Gold because he really needs one for his hair and tail. He likes his hair a little bit shaggier, so it gets tangled easily, just like his tail.

I continue to train, killing Goblins, recording information about them either before, after, or at home, and work on using my Skills. I push myself hard, hunting down and killing Goblins of Level 4 or 5, looking hard for advanced Goblins. There are a handful of Elite and Bounty Beast Goblins around, and I plan on being able to kill them in a straight fight by the end of the month, now it's December. I have to push myself hard for that.

When I finally hit Dark Knight Level 10 after eight days of grinding and hunting hard, I go home and have a small celebration. Gold doesn't really know why I'm having one, but he enjoys the feast I forced him to let me make.

The only thing I'm missing right now is Roar of Darkness Level 2. It looks like I'll have to use it a bit tomorrow. Might scare up some Slimes and Rats on my way into the forest, see if that'll work.

I'm nowhere near Leveling Meteor to Level 2, though. That thing…

It takes fifteen thousand Mana to cast. I don't even want to know how I was able to simply borrow enough for that. How few magicians are there that can even afford to use it once? Even with the boosts from Dark Knight and Adventurer, as well as that weirdly-massive increase I gained while fighting the Blood Curse, I'm at a little under eighteen hundred.

That confuses me. A lot.

Clearing those thoughts from my mind, I finish my bath, dry off, get dressed, then head to the fire pit to get some sleep, Gold joining after a few minutes. He refuses to sleep under the blanket, for whatever weird reason, but I'm sure one day, he'll sleep tucked-in.

When morning comes, I eat breakfast with Gold, then make my way to the Dark Temple, showing up just as Nik is heading out.

"Did Big Flame tell you I was on my way?"

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"No," he answers. "He probably knew we'd cross paths. Did you have a question for me?"

"Yeah," I nod. "I need to get Roar of Darkness to Level 2, and noticed that Crimson Guide didn't go up to Level 6, even though the other two in its set for a Tier did. Shouldn't Roar of Darkness have gone to Level 4 for necessity?"

"It's a little different for Skills of a higher Rank," he shakes his head. "Normally, they're much tougher to Level, so we need fewer Levels on them."

"Ah," I say. "What do I need for Champion of Darkness, once I'm at Level 10 Dark General?"

"All Skills up by two," he says. "Except for Crimson Guide at Level 5 and Roar of Darkness sat Level 3, plus your Demonic Aspect and Dark Vengeance Level 1."

In other words, get Roar of Darkness up two Levels and acquire my Demonic Aspect, which is locked to Tier IV and above, so I'll need to acquire that after taking on Dark General.

"Thanks," I say.

"You're welcome," he responds. "How's Gold doing?"

"He's settling in alright," I answer. "Other than one issue, there's been no problems with him not being a slave."

"I heard about that," Nik chuckles. "You'd imagine people would learn to not antagonize Dark Knights."

By 'I heard about that', Nik means that he was taking Gold shopping again when it happened, so it was him who dealt with it. Last I heard, the guy was unable to afford the cost to restore his hand soon enough, so he's permanently without one. Apparently, there's a time limit on how long it can be after the limb is removed, and it costs a ton of Mana and nullifies both regenerations of the caster for awhile.

And I got a light scolding for cutting off someone's hand.

I gave Nik a good one. Then we sparred. I didn't get a single hit in, as usual. I was bruised for three days.

It was worth it.

"Can I see your tome?" He asks.

"My tome?"

"The one you bought before you started hunting," he says. "You bought a thousand-page tome. Jackson mentioned he saw you working on it a few nights ago, on his way home. He didn't see what. Is it private? Or can I see it? He said you looked like you were concentrating on it pretty intensely."

"Sure," I pull it out of my Inventory and hand it to him.

He flips it open and begins skimming the pages. When he finishes the first section, reaching the first set of blank pages, he looks at me.

"You did all of this in eight days?" He asks.

"You only reached the first spot," I say. "Where there's more than two or three blank pages between them."

He stares at me for a moment, then starts flipping through until he reaches the next set. He skims through those, looking through the rest of the book until he's finished, then he looks at me again.

"You did all of this in eight days?"

"Yeah," I nod. "To better slay my enemies, I need to understand them and know about them. It'll help with stronger Goblins, too. And it'll work as a good guide for new Adventurers once I'm done. Well, done with the starting part of it. I doubt I'll finish it anytime soon."

"It looks like," he flips to one page. "You found a Goblin settlement in the forest. Your notes don't mention how large it was."

"I counted seventy-eight Goblins," I answer. "Though that's excluding any that weren't in the village at the time. It looked as if it could house more than a hundred."

"Did you clear it?"

"Nah," I answer. "I figured, why not wait until after I'm either a Dark General or a Champion of Darkness. Taking it on by myself would probably grant me a fair bit of Experience, and those upper Levels will need it."

"Be careful," he reminds me.

"Always," I respond.

He returns my tome to me, and I send it into my Inventory. Then, the Dark Knight wishes me luck, and I head out, making my way out of town through the North Gate. No one comes out this way, so there are shitloads of Monsters.

And I mean shitloads.

I focus myself, then allow my rage to build up within me, so as to amplify the power of my Roar of Darkness. Once my blood is absolutely boiling, I inhale, then unleash the roar. They freeze up in terror, but I don't gain a Level.

Sighing, I journey northward into the forest, seeking out another settlement somewhere to scare the shit out of. It takes me most of the day to find, it's so far in. I count eighty-seven different Goblins within it, and a Rage-fueled Roar of Darkness later, they're frozen in terror.

That, and I'm a Dark General.

After a silent cheer to myself, I draw my sword, grinning at the Goblins currently too paralyzed with fear to respond, waiting for the paralysis to end. Once it does, the butchering begins.

The weakest ones flee, while the strongest ones do their best to kill me, their own lives ending in the process. As I finish killing the ones still within the forest, I decide to hunt down the ones who fled.

It takes me an hour to deal with all of them, then loot their bodies. That done, I return to their settlement and raid it and the corpses, satisfied with my work today.

I gained a full Level to Dark General from that massacre, and am nearly at the next Level, too.

After thoroughly looting the village, I return to Maelnor and visiting the Trading Post, where I have to wait for Jesse to finish with the four Adventurers in his line. Once it's my turn, I sell him my loot for a total of thirty-nine silver, sixteen copper.

"I was wondering when you'd finally sell your loot, Zacky!"

I will allow my Rage to reach its peak, then unleash a Roar of Darkness in your ear.

"I've been busy with more important things, Pervert," I say. "Like becoming a Dark General."

"And at Level 2 of it already, too!" He says. "You're so good, Zacky! I wish I could Level as fast as you!"

"It's slowing down," I tell him. "I have to do more, now, and need to do more than simply kill with a sword, too."

"Why, of course, Zacky!"

Ugh. This is, like, the seventh time since I walked in. Please, just go get turned into Goblin stew already.

"The higher the Class, the more Skills relating to the Class and actions as part of the Class you need to do! That's only logical, Zacky!"

While you're still alive.

"Whatever," I wave. "Goodbye, Pervert. See you whenever."

With that, I turn on my heel and make my way to the Dark Temple. I have seven Frost Goblin hearts to sacrifice, as well as the heart of an Elite Goblin Chieftain.

That fucker was nasty. I'm glad he was only Level 3 when I fought him earlier, if he were Level 5, I'd have probably been in for a world of hurt. I could handle him by myself, but with the other Goblins in the village… holy fuck was that difficult.

He's dead now, though, so that's all that matters. I think killing him was part of why I acquired so much Experience today. He gave me a full thirty-eight percent at Level 2.

At the Temple of Darkness, I make my way to the altar, where I place the seven hearts in a circle, the Chieftain's in the center of that, then send a prayer up to Big Flame.

"Thank you, for watching over me and guiding my blade," I pray. "For allowing me to shed the blood of my enemies and bring an end to the existence of the Monsters today. Please continue to watch over me, and please allow me to continue to grow stronger, so that I may remain out here and serve you well. Thank you, Big Flame."

I finish my prayer, and the fires upon the altar consume the hearts, a warmth filling me. I dip my head to the altar, then turn and leave, heading home.